As American as, well, you know.
US Department of Agriculture / Flickr Creative Commons
Just as Dorothy discovered in the land of Oz that life is bigger than her backyard, through travel around the world – or sometimes just to a different part of the city – we, too, find that people do things differently – sometimes in strange (to us), comical or beautiful ways.
Since returning after the last two years abroad, I’ve been bombarded by cultural phenomena that stir up many different feelings: proud to be an American, head-shaking shame, or brow-furrowing confusion.
No country has a monopoly on goodness, truth, or beauty, and we probably all have our cultural elements that seem downright bizarre to someone not from there.
I here offer my own list on what has stood out to me since being back in the States. I’m not saying what I think is good or bad, for what is wonderful to me might be worrisome to you and just weird to another person. This is simply a list of things that you’re probably not going to find in many places outside of the U.S.
1. Extreme couponing
2. Rotating hot dogs and taquitos at gas stations
3. Prom, elaborate prom proposals, homecoming kings and queens
4. Y’all
5. Grinding
6. Having so much stuff that you have to rent a storage unit
7. “Saving room for dessert”
8. Flags everywhere – shirts, hats, bikinis, cemeteries, boxers, various desserts, outside of Perkins, on the moon
Deep fried….everything!
nicholaspollock / Flickr Creative Commons
9. Funnel cakes, cotton candy, deep fried Oreos/candy bars/pie/butter/bacon cinnamon rolls/peanut butter banana cheeseburgers
10. Mission trips
11. The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and all our national parks
12. That Hawaii and Alaska are states… and what’s the relationship with Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam? I never know exactly.
13. Cowboy hats and belt buckles
14. 24-hour stores that sell things virtually no human has ever thought of purchasing at 3:00 AM
15. Pumpkin spice everything
16. Intentionally misspelled businesses, brand names, and musicians: La-Z-Boy, Kwik Trip, Quik Trip, Froot Loops, Snoop Dogg, etc.
17. Eating competitions
Cannoli eating competition in New York.
Paul Stein / Flickr Creative Commons
18. Weight loss competitions
19. Drinking water from the tap
20. The smell of a Subway sandwich that fills a room
21. Girl Scout Cookies
22. Marathons, triathlons, 5ks, 10ks… for a cause
23. Frozen yogurt, cupcakes, cronuts
24. The names Aidan, Jayden, Cayden, Hayden, and Braden
25. State license plates
A map of license plates
Josh Kellogg / Flickr Creative Commons
26. Ketchup, peanut butter, barbecue sauce, ranch dressing
27. Doggy daycare
28. The meat dress of 2010
29. Spinning, CrossFit, yoga, pilates, yogalates, Farrell’s, Zumba
30. Watery coffee
31. The Oscar Mayer weinermobile
32. Vitamin and supplement stores, GU, protein shakes
33. Eating turkey, deep frying a turkey, turduckens, the annual presidential turkey pardon
34. Wearing hats indoors
35. Kale, quinoa, chia seeds, kefir
36. Taco Bell’s quesarito, Taco Bell’s “fourth meal”
37. Calling oneself “Irish” when your family has been in the U.S. for 170 years
38. BuzzFeed posts like “How To Get Fat Without Spending Any Money”
39. Sales tax not being included in the price tag
40. Wall Drug
41. S’mores
42. Ice in drinks
43. Being obsessed with the college from which you graduated
44. Payday loan stores
45. Huge portions at restaurants, throwing out large amounts of food
What…no fries?
Erik / Flickr Creative Commons
46. Using a card to pay for everything
47. Spending $50,000/year on college
48. Soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, flax milk, and 20 kinds of milk milk
49. Political ads that start months before an election
50. Pickup trucks
51. Free online streaming
52. Staying at hotels even when visiting relatives
53. Lots of personal space
54. The Texas Prison Museum
55. Worrying about being politically correct
56. Wisconsin cheeseheads and those foam finger #1 things
57. Diners
58. Snuggies, footie pajamas
59. Going to class or riding on an airplane in pajamas
60. Dependence on GPS
61. “The world’s largest ____” e.g. ball of twine, letter M, rocking chair, etc.
62. Keg stands, beer pong, power hours, red solo cups
63. Political prayer breakfasts
64. Big Gulps, unlimited refills, and being given a cup to fill yourself – for less money than a bottle of water
NY Times Crosswords
Brian Aydemir / Flickr Creative Commons
65. The New York Times Crossword
66. Prevalent free bathrooms
67. College sports, March Madness, mascots, cheerleading, and tailgating
68. The Kardashians
69. Wooden houses
70. 473 kinds of breakfast cereal at Walmart1 and being able to buy guns at the very same store
71. Dependence on cars
72. Las Vegas
73. Items shipped within days, getting packages outside our homes and no one stealing them
74. Saying “um” and “like”
75. The Mall of America
76. NPR
77. Fruits and vegetables that don’t really taste like real fruits and vegetables
78. Groundhog Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Halloween
79. Carhenge
Carhenge. Yup, it’s a thing.
Chris M Morris / Flickr Creative Commons
80. Beyoncé
81. The Scripps National Spelling Bee
82. The frequent use of “awesome”
Are there things that you think are weird, worrisome, or wonderful that are uniquely American? Leave your ideas in the comments section below.
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- Seriously, I just checked walmart.com ↩
